According to the United Nations between two and three billion people on our planet are suffering from water shortages. Most of us in America take for granted having clean water available. People in drought areas often get notices to restrict watering their lawns. However, besides cutting down their time in the shower, they have enough water for household use. 

The realization of how often we use water really hits home if you receive a boil water notice from your state’s department of health. The first time you get the notice, also known as a boil water advisory, you might think it will not affect you since you only drink bottled. Well, you might be in for a big surprise.

Months ago, I woke up to find a “Boil Water Order” taped to my front door. Reading the fine print, it included phrases that informed me that there was an “inadequate disinfection system” throughout the water supply. As I removed my morning cup of coffee from my lips, I continued reading the notice. The lack of proper disinfection could result in “the presence of harmful pathogens.” That last word made me think that using this questionable water was a “path” that I did not want to go down. 

As I began to remove my recently filled ice cube trays and emptied them into the sink, I hit the paragraph in the notice about the possible issues caused by pathogens. I began to replace the tap water that I had recently used in my fish tanks with a gallon of bottled water as I read words such as cramps, nausea, headaches and diarrhea.

As I began to take an inventory of my supply of Imodium, Kaopectate and Pepto-Bismol, I read that the contaminated water might cause more risks for infants, some elderly and those people with severely compromised immune systems. That list reminded me of the warnings we first heard a few years ago when the word Covid became part of our lexicon.

 I went to the internet to find out what steps I needed to take to ensure the safety of my tap water. I quickly found out that the boiling process had to be done in a certain way. So, here is my public service announcement for my readers. First, fill a pot with tap water. Heat the water until it is a rolling boil. What is a rolling boil? According to google, it is when “large bubbles burst vigorously and continuously over the entire surface of a pot of water, sometimes forcefully enough to splatter some water.” I went back to my stockpile of covid items and put on a pair of safety gloves to avoid the splatter.

After two minutes of the rolling boil, let the water cool completely and then pour it into a clean airtight container. The directions seemed easy enough until I realized that I needed a lot of safe water.

I went online to a site of my local supermarket and not wanting to add a risk of a hernia to possible side effects of pathogens, I ordered a delivery of water that would have made Gunga Din jealous. That afternoon gallons of water as well as cases of 16-ounce plastic bottles of H2O arrived on my doorstep.

As an aside, Gunga Din was a movie inspired by a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It is about an Indian water-bearer who saves a soldier’s life by delivering water to him despite being in the middle of a war.

Until the boil water notice was lifted, I used my water supply to brush my teeth, clean my dishes, water my plants and at first, wash my hands and face. Eventually I found a site online that said you could use contaminated water to wash your hands if you used plenty of soap. So, once again going back to my covid protocol, I used soap and tap water to wash my hands as I sang the “Happy Birthday” song twice.

Eventually the boil water notice was lifted. I celebrated by drinking a glass of refreshing Sullivan County tap water.

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.